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Is a leather strop necessary when sharpening a pocket knife?

Stripping is great for maintaining a sharp edge. I usually have one handy and usually give my edc blades a little stepping every week until they need a full sharpening.
 
Stropping is the final touch. You don't have to buy a strop - I used an old belt (rough side out) & glued it to a 12" piece of
2x2 wood. Then applied CR compound (white, gold or green). And I agree with the others - you can't get too sharp...
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I want my knife as sharp as I can get it and a strop loaded with diamond does that. Although I would make my knives more dull when attempting to use green CrO but as soon as I changed to diamond I could tree top hairs. I wouldn't even mess with anything but diamonds, especially with newer high carbide content stainless steels. CrO just doesn't cut fast enough and you have to strop much longer which increases the chance of stropping at the wrong angle and rounding the edge. It might work on simple carbon steels like 1084 but I don't own simple carbon steel blades.
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Thats odd. I have used a strop almost exclusively for tuning up my Tops knife that is 154CM. I use green compound, and unless I get it really dull, I rarely have to use a stone on it.

I do a lot of wood carving. My knives are 1095, and O1. They haven't seen a stone in ages. I just strop them before I use them, and they are alway hair splitting sharp. I was taught how to strop, and have used that method for years so maybe it's all in what you are used to.
 
I don't strop always. It depends of the kind of edge i plan to use. Whatever is the final sharpening grit, even if it's a low grit, i make some passes on a leather strop or on fine cardboard. I see it as a "cleaning", it removes weak teeth, it aligns strong teeth.

dantzk.
 
I leather strop my blades with polishing compound to help keep them razor sharp- just a few passes on each side. Learned by watching various approaches on youtube and settled on a combo that worked for me. I'm always up to learning something new.
 
stropping is great for removing burrs but you can get super edges by finishing up on spydies fine & x-tra fine ceramic hones. actually for some real hard texas woods & deer i prefer the more toothy edge of the hones.----dennis
 
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DennisStrickland said:
stropping is great for removing burrs but you can get super edges by finishing up on spydies fine & x-tra fine ceramic hones. actually for some real hard texas woods & deer i prefer the more toothy edge or the hones.----dennis
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I agree. I have knives that have very polished edges and don't bite and cut worth a darn. When that occurs I don't strop and go back and do a few more passes on the last hone to leave some teeth on the edge.

Most problems with stropping, like sharpening are from improper technique. See this pictorial for stropping! http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/750008-Stropping-angle-plus-pressure
 
There is nothing particular to stropping that makes it necessary or even entirely unique in the sharpening process. Stropping is generally done to polish the edge beyond the level of most of the sharpening stones in use. But stropping with 1 micron compound isn't going to be drastically different from sharpening on a 1 micron stone. The price of the materials involved may be, and if using a soft backing, the requirement for precision is a little less. You don't need to strop to get polished edges, shaving edges, or hair-splitting edges. You can also maintain an edge with a very fine pocket stone.

I do strop with diamond compound on leather, but I can also finish off an edge with a 10K waterstone or even leave it coarse at 120 grit. Just depends on what you want and how you want to get there.
 
I strop my blades all the time. It sets the edge as well as polish. I hardly ever use my sharpening system anymore. After any use I strop the blade and it is a razor again. This is what the Barbour does with his strait edge razor. That is why you never see the stropping leather put away. I have a 14" piece of leather from a old leather coat attached to the wall of my garage. It works great and I use it all the time. All my blades are the sharpest around.
 
I almost always finish with a strop. It's a sure way to eliminate any leftover burrs and I enjoy using sharp knives.
 
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